A celebration of cocktails that have been lost, forgotten or mutilated over time.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Exhibit #69: How 'Bout Some Brown Liquor?

The Boulevardier $7A whiskey Negroni, created by Harry McElhone at his New York Bar in Paris, mid 1920s: equal parts Bulleit bourbon, Campari and red vermouth, up. It was a favorite of Erskine Gwynne, and was thus christened with the name of the literary magazine he published in Paris at that time. Contrary to what some will tell you, this drink does not predate the Negroni, which was already being sold in bottled form by the Negroni family in 1919. See also the Old Pal below for a similar but more whiskey-forward approach.

Old Pal $7The other “whiskey Negroni”: two parts rye whiskey to one part each dry vermouth and Campari. The substitutions - dry for sweet vermouth, rye for bourbon - make for a drier take than the Boulevardier above.

Scofflaw Cocktail $7Rye whiskey, dry vermouth, lemon juice, pomegranate syrup, orange bitters, up. Another Prohibition-era Harry McElhone cocktail, this one as direct response to coinage of the term ‘scofflaw,’ which originally meant one who flaunted the laws of Prohibition. Those expat bartenders just loved to give their would-be oppressors the bird at any chance they got.